How do I copy a Figure

I just had a quick question fore you all. How do I use the copy figure comand that is listed under the edit menu in Daz Studio 4? I know that it is a simple question, and I'm missing a command step or something like that. Please write back soon and tell me how to use the command. I really appreciate the help.

Thanks again
Michael

Comments

If you mean copy the complete figure setting/shapes/surfaces to another figure, then it's in the edit dropdown at the top left of the screen. Go to edit>copy. Here you have three choices, copy surface, copy figure, and copy selected surfaces (this is for if you just want to copy certain surfaces but not the whole thing). Selcet copy figure. Then select the figure you want to paste the settings onto. Then it's edit>paste>copy to figure.

Just to clarify, the copy commands all copy settings - they don't copy actual items. The public Release Candidate for DS 4.5 does have instancing, which makes actual copies of mesh that are linked to the original.

So, just to be clear, it's not possible to copy a figure like a modified primitive from the scene and then add it back into the scene as a seperate identical figure in Daz Studio Pro 4.5?

You can.
If you want an identical figure that changes when the original figure changes, you would use instancing as described above.
If you want to start with an identical figure that you will later want to be different from the original figure, (and the above copy/paste settings aren't copying every aspect of the figure you need), you can use File > "Save As" > "Scene Subset" to save the figure to a file, which you can then immediately merge back into the scene as a second copy of the figure.

Sean says: 'you would use instancing as described above. '
I must be stupid. I can't see any such description. I have found 'Instances' in the DS Edit/Object and Figure menus, but I don't see how to use it.
I would like to be able to copy things and then paste and move them on the stage, rather than having to save them and then reload. In most programs I can copy and paste, paste, paste, paste to create four copies (and more if I want, but it is much longer-winded if I have to keep loading the same scene subset.
Am I missing something dead obvious?

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/652467/
take all the stuff of the one shoulder (cloths, etc) in the scene tab, slide it up so it is a child under the root for the figure.
select the figure root node…
then edit->duplicate->Node hierarchies.

Thanks. I used to work for UK local Government with much interface to national government bodies. I reckoned to be pretty good at treading stuff which was nigh-on impossible to understand, but this is a whole new world. I went to the relevant forum and it was no clearer there. I accept that a large obstacle is my sexagenarian dislike of new stuff but I haven't a clue how you 'slide up'. I have to make invisible every link in a chain that is not wanted when I am sure there must be a way to batch hide them, for example. Presumably 'sliding up' is something like that. I think the other problem though is that I have no idea what 'edit->duplicate->Node hierarchies' means or how it would work.

You can make what looks like a "copy" of a figure or prop using instances. Its more like a clone, and sometime the wording isn't as important than just getting the program to do what you want. Its under the - create menu, - new node instances